


Feeding the Dead

by Willowanderer



Series: Monstrous Roommates [14]
Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Bad Jokes, Gen, M/M, Magic, Werewolf, casual discussion of death, ghost - Freeform, monster au, mummy - Freeform, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21529147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowanderer/pseuds/Willowanderer
Summary: Thomas is getting stronger. Is it the power of friendship, or is it something else?It's probably the Power of Friendship
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton, LAMP/CALM
Series: Monstrous Roommates [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1470683
Comments: 25
Kudos: 274





	Feeding the Dead

It was, in Roman’s opinion, entirely too early, but certain sacrifices had to be made for show business. He didn’t expect anyone else to be up. As he left the bathroom however, he smelled what had to be the best thing in the world. Freshly made coffee. He followed his nose into the dark kitchen, and flipped on the lights. The coffee maker was the only thing on, and his favorite mug was beside it. 

There was a gentle knock on the table. 

“I made coffee.”

“Oh Thomas you incorporal angel, you are officially my favorite for the day.” Roman poured himself a cup and held it with both hands. “Looking good by the way.”

“Yeah I can see right through that compliment.” 

Both of them laughed, since while his voice was fairly clear, Thomas’s presence was only marked by a faint outline. That had been a recent development. 

“Well it’s just so nice to see you.” Roman winked. 

“I’m just glad you’ve calmed down about it.”

"There is a world of difference between having a stranger show up in your kitchen, and having a roommate.” 

“Makes me sound like I should be paying rent.” 

“Maybe you can get a job as a ghost writer.” 

“I hear the market’s pretty dead.” they both sniggered. 

“The same could be said for live theatre.” 

“Dead Buddies.”

“Dead Buddies.” Roman agreed, and poured a second cup before trying to find something for breakfast. 

It was late afternoon when Roman made it back from the casting call that had gotten him out of bed so early. He hated driving, but he hated being driven by someone he didn’t trust more. It was times like this he really missed living in New York, with the excellent transit system, which didn’t feel like being driven. But they never would have been able to afford a house there, and besides, if they’d stayed there they never would have met Patton and Logan… and Thomas. So in the end, having to drive was totally worth it for a house full of friends. Besides, he wouldn’t get okay with it if he didn’t keep trying. 

“Hello my little princelets!” he called as he hung up his jacket. 

“Were we just downgraded to backup singers?” Virgil grumbled from the living room. 

“Never a downgrade, my delightful deceased darling.” 

“Ugh. Someone ate alliteration for lunch.” 

“So the rest of us are downgraded?” Patton asked playfully, sticking his head out of the kitchen. 

“Ack trapped by my need for wordplay.” Roman wailed theatrically. He kissed Patton’s cheek, since he was right there. “It’s an upgrade anyway.” 

“Virgil is just grouchy because the speaker rig got unplugged sometime yesterday.” Patton confided.

“Why would that make him grouchy?”

There was a knock on the wall, then Thomas spoke

“Because no one noticed until like an hour ago.”

Virgil screamed into a pillow.

“HIS VOICE WASN’T EVEN COMING FROM THE SAME DIRECTION, HOW DID I NOT NOTICE!?”

“He’s taking it somewhat badly.” Logan added, unnecessarily. He was rubbing circles on Virgil’s back. 

“I’m an idiot.” 

“YOU ARE NOT!”

“Patton please.” Logan said. 

“It’s illegal to call yourself names! Illegal!” 

“There are no laws about that, Patton.”

“There are in this house, mister.” grumbled Patton, going back to his baking. His pinterest obsession had veered into flood icing and he was working on that. It was harder than he expected. He kept running out of cookies to practice on. There wasn’t anyone in the neighborhood who hadn’t received a plate of cookies at this point, even the neighbors he didn’t like as much. 

“So I see you all had an exciting day without me.” Roman chuckled joining Logan and Virgil on the couch. 

“No, it’s generally much calmer without your presence.” Logan said blandly, but he was looking slyly at Roman when he said it, the corner of his mouth tipping up. “Very restful.” 

Roman leaned across Virgil to kiss the corner of Logan’s mouth. 

“I know you love me.”

“Are there any other facts you feel like reciting?” Logan stole a brief kiss, arm still around Virgil’s shoulders. Virgil put a hand on the back of Roman’s neck, threading his fingers into Roman’s dark curls. 

“Hey.” 

“Yes?” He swung his legs around so he was sitting in Virgil’s lap, legs thrown over Logan’s. 

“Do you have any other auditions coming up soon?” 

“Mnn. None planned. It’s an awkward season.” Roman sighed. 

“Would you let me feed on you?” 

Roman wiggled closer to Virgil and tipped his head back against the hand in his hair. 

“Always. Proceed.” 

Virgil gave a half laugh, pressing a kiss to Roman’s throat, fingers tightening. “God, you’re shameless.” 

“For you? Always.” Roman peered through his lashes flirtatiously. As Virgil’s teeth pierced his skin, his eyes drifted shut the rest of the way, losing himself in the sensation of it. It didn’t last nearly long enough in his opinion. 

“Mnn. Thanks.” Virgil mumbled into the hollow of his throat. “Just wanted to take the edge off.” 

“Pleasures mine,” Mumbled Roman opening his eyes, discovering Logan was watching them both closely, and behind him- “Oh hello Thomas. Didn’t see you there.”

Logan and Virgil whipped their heads around in time to see the vague half-exposed form of Thomas leaning over the back of the couch. 

“Oh god what is my life!” Thomas faded out.

“Over?” Roman suggested playfully. There was a haunted-house worthy groan. 

“Well.” Logan said breathlessly. “I was not expecting that.” 

“Thomas has been doing that a lot lately.” Roman tucked himself against Virgil’s shoulder. He wasn’t tired, he just wanted cuddles. “It’s like he’s getting stronger.” 

“I don’t see how he could do that.” Logan was still staring at the place where Thomas had been moments before. “He’s dead, after all.” 

“Nothing wrong with being dead. I’m dead, Virgil’s sort of dead. Being dead is hardly going to stop any of us.”

“It would probably stop me.” Patton said thoughtfully, coming out to join them on the couch, wiping his hands on a dishcloth. “But I haven’t tried it and don’t really want to.” 

“Alright, Patton’s excused but that doesn’t mean-”

“I may be unconventional, Roman, but I  _ am  _ alive.” 

“That’s not the point!” he threw his hands up. “Okay fine, it’s just Virgil and me.”

“Virgil and I.” corrected Logan without thinking. 

“Legally I’m not dead.” Virgil smirked. “I’m just really well preserved.” 

“Oh fuck you-” Roman shoved away a little.

“Language.” Patton chided

“Later.” 

“Thomas and I are dead and there’s nothing wrong with that, is I guess what I’m saying.” 

“Dead right.” Said Thomas cheerfully.

“Dead Buddies!” Roman automatically held up a hand as if to get a high five, then looked embarrassed. About to lower it, he felt a gentle, cold pressure on his hand. “Was that? Yes! Now what was I saying- Right, about strength. He’s appearing more, and interacting better, he doesn’t need amplification from electronics to make himself heard.”

“There is a theory that ghosts take ambient energy from the world around them to manifest. Such as heat, or the energy from phone or camera batteries.” Logan tapped his lips with a fingertip thoughtfully. 

“And he sure has been chowing down on those.” Patton joked. 

“Giving him attention, speaking his name, speaking  _ to  _ him- all of those things would also give him energy.” Roman made a large circle with his hand, indicating the four of them. “ _ We’d _ give him energy. We’re feeding the dead.” 

“Feeding the dead?” Logan looked uncertain. 

“Read something other than a text book or a mystery occasionally Logan.” Roman groaned. “It’s not an unusual concept. Well, I suppose in England and America it is.”

“The two places I have spent my life.” Logan pointed out dryly. 

Roman rolled his eyes so hard they took his head with them, and cursed at the ceiling in Spanish.

“Ro, I know enough spanish to know you owe the swear jar at least a dollar.” Patton poked his cheek. Roman rolled his eyes again, but fondly this time. 

“I should save time, and just take us out for pedicures.” 

“If this is some sort of magic, it would make sense if we asked someone who knows more about it.”

“It’s somewhere between religion and magic, I guess.” Roman said thoughtfully. “Oh no, you mean…”

“You got along with Emile fine the last time he was over.” Logan said sharply. “You can do it again.” 

“Oh Goodie!” Patton perked up. “I can give him a  _ bunch  _ of cookies.” 

“I’m kind of with Roman.” Thomas said, sounding like he wanted to be mumbling but had to speak up. “He was kind of terrifying.” 

Virgil snorted. 

“I think you and Roman are the only people in the world who think that.” 

“Excuse me, I don’t think he’s terrifying.” Roman protested. “I’m just a little wary.” 

Patton leaned over and kissed Roman’s forehead. 

“Don’t worry, even if your head got shrunk it’d still be as handsome as ever.” 

“A little adjustment might be in order, frankly.” Mumbled Virgil. Roman squawked his offense, which only made the others laugh more. 

Patton called Emile during lunch the next day, inviting him over, and explaining they had more questions about Thomas- and explaining what they’d learned, mainly about Thomas. 

“Is it okay if I come by myself? I have a few hours free after appointments today; but Remy went off for a long weekend with some party friends.” 

“Oh then you can definitely come by!” Patton told him cheerfully. “And stay for dinner, if you’d like. Being alone can really stink.” 

“I’d love to take an evening off! I’ve been booking extra sessions because of the holidays, and I could use a break.”

“I don’t know if it counts as a break if you’re going to be helping us;”

“It’s okay! Helping friends and helping clients are different wells to draw from. Besides, being with friends is recharging. Beep boop.” 

Patton laughed. 

“Okay then! I’ll make something nice.” They chatted for a few more minutes before Emile had to go, promising to see them that evening. 

Without Remy, Emile’s arrival was a great deal more calm. He got there just as Patton put a shepards pie in the oven, and joined everyone else in the living room. 

“Not to be overly direct, since I am still unsure how your ability works, but I was wondering if you had any immediate thoughts about the situation?” Logan asked. 

“Well something’s been going on here, that’s for sure. It feels different. Not bad, just different.” Emile fished the tin out of his bag again. “I’ll try and make contact-” something unseen swatted the tin from his hand, and everyone watched it spin to a stop on the floor.

“... I was going to say,” Logan retrieved it. “That Thomas mentioned that you were terrifying when we told him you were coming over. I believe this-”

“Seeing salve.” Emile provided.

“Was the cause. And given the reaction, I would say he would prefer if you didn’t.” 

Emile giggled 

“I’d say so. And since he was nowhere near this strong before, I think Roman’s theory bears some weight.” he put the tin back into his bag. “Strange though. Other than poltergeists, which Thomas is not, you generally don’t see resident ghosts getting stronger with time. There may be more going on here than we realise.” he wrote something in his notebook. “I can look into that, if you want?”

“Thank you, you probably have resources available to you that we do not.”

“It’s not a big deal, Logan.” Emile smiled. “I just know where to look. Any research goes faster if you’re familiar with the premise.”

“I suppose so. Are you familiar with the idea of ‘feeding the dead’? Roman mentioned it, but it’s a rather vague idea.” 

Emile tapped his fingers against his lips thoughtfully. 

“There’s several traditions that would be something like that, grave offerings for one, in eastern countries, and to a lesser extent, the mexican traditions. The opening of the mouth in the Egyptian burial traditions, too, important so he dead to eat and speak in the afterlife, food was left out for them as well. It sort of crosses over with offerings to house elves- not like in Harry Potter, house spirits, I guess you could say. Food was left out for them, to keep them happy. Even setting a place for Elijah in the abrahamic traditions. ”

“But that’s all actual food.”

“Not necessarily, sometimes it gets symbolic. It’s the  _ idea _ of the food. Grave or altar offerings are often eaten after a certain amount of time in order to prevent waste. Symbols of food or goods are often used when real items wouldn’t be practical.” 

“Yeah, but we’re not talking about anything like that, unless he’s taking pizza we forget to put away as an offering.” Virgil put in. 

“I’m sure I heard something about just feeding energy to spirits.” Roman said.

“Well that’s more of a thing for poltergeists and tulpa, like I said before.” Emile interjected. “Giving attention and things like that. If you want to do it on purpose, it would be helpful if there was a focus. A picture of him or a possession would work best, making it more like a grave offering, since he is a genuine ghost.” 

“We don’t have either of those things.”

“Well, we can dig around on the internet. We may be able to find a picture of him.” Patton said thoughtfully. “That’s the kind of thing you can find on the net.” 

“Hopefully with his clothes  _ on _ .” Virgil joked.

“No kinkshaming.” Patton wiggled his finger. There was a groan from nowhere that sounded more embarrassed than spooky. 

“In the meantime;” Emile said, digging in his bag. “Thomas, I hear you like Steven Universe too? I love that show. Sometime I hope we can sit down and talk about cartoons.” The air felt slightly heavy, like it was listening. “I’d like to offer you this as an apology for scaring you when we first met.” Emile opened his hand, revealing a star made out of a pinky-clear stone, polished smooth. “I’ve been using it as a worry stone and it has a small calm cast on it. It’s a gift. If you want it, it’s yours.” He held his hand out in an offering gesture, and after a minute, the pink star disappeared from his palm. 

“Not to seem rude,” Logan asked. “But what did that accomplish?”

“Well two things.” Emile smiled. “One, I got to apologise for scaring Thomas, and two,  _ now  _ he has a possession.” 

“Meaning?” 

“If you want to purposely feed Thomas energy, you can focus on the quartz star.” 

“Thank you.” Thomas said, a shape fading into view. 

Emile’s face lit up.

“Oh wow, would you look at that!” 

“You’re… uh… a lot less terrifying when you aren’t glowing.” Thomas said uncertainly. 

“I wasn’t aware that I did. I guess you see things a little bit different than other spirits- oh gosh!” he clasped his hands together. “Did it look like the avatar state? That would be so cool!” 

Thomas gave a startled giggle, and the faint shape disappeared. 

“It did kind of.” his voice was a little fainter. There was a soft noise, and the rose quartz star reappeared sitting next to the speaker rig, which was still sitting on the ledge between the kitchen and dining room. “Sorry, feeling a little worn out suddenly.” Curiously, Patton reached out and touched it with one finger, drawing back as he found it cold, like it had been in a fridge. 

“This might be a good opportunity to test the theory then.” Logan suggested. “If you don’t mind, Dr- I mean Emile, what do you mean by ‘feed energy’?” 

“When I put energy into a thing, I use visualization. I’m a very visual person, that’s why I like cartoons.” He pointed at himself. “You start by feeling and picturing yourself. Most people use the mental visual of a glow, you can picture whatever you like. Then you focus on what you’re putting energy into-”

“I can see how a picture would make that easier.” 

Emile nodded, making a gesture like the was pulling something. 

“And you just push or send the glow of your energy to what you’re energizing. Once it’s moved the hard part is cutting it off, so it’s not connected. When you send energy to someone else, they can help by claiming it.”

“Oh,” Virgil said suddenly. “I ... I get that.” he didn't say anything but he made gestures like he was thinking something over. “Yeah. I’ve felt something like that, when I feed.” 

“Ah! Yes! That makes sense.” Emile flushed a bit, but nodded. “Vampires are kind of an extreme idea of that, only they still have bodies, which are in turn fed by the energy and the uh… chi… of the blood. Psychic vampires are similar only they just skim the energy to support themselves. But psychic vampires are just humans with abilities that give them a leg up on manipulating human energy. Most of them don’t even have to consume energy to live well, it’s just a rush and a boost. Come to think of it, what’s going on here is kind of like psychic vampirism, one of the more ethical kinds, where the vampire only harvests naturally expelled energy.” 

“Naturally expelled?” Logan asked.

“Yeah, living things give off energy like radiation. It just drifts off, and reconnects with the universe, and eventually cycles back through.”

“Like the rain cycle!” Patton offered.

“Yes! You get it, gold star for you!” Emile actually produced a packet of stickers, sorted one out that didn’t say ‘you tried’ and handed it over to Patton, who gleefully stuck it onto his shirt. There was a silence and then suddenly Thomas yelped.

“WHOA!” 

“Thomas? You okay buddy?” Patton asked. The air chilled suddenly and then outline appeared, followed with a full materialization- photo sharp, but lacking shadows. 

“Maybestopnow.” he said, eyes wide. Everyone stared back at him. 

“Eee!” Patton leapt to his feet and tried to hug Thomas, going right through and landing on the carpet. He shivered hard, sneezed, and changed forms. 

“Uh, I guess I’m visible, not touchable. Sorry Patton.”

“It’s okay, kiddo. I don’t know what I expected.” His tail was wagging. “You’re really cold though.”

“I don’t  _ feel  _ cold.” Thomas looked at his hands. “I feel kinda warm for me, honestly. And like I’m buzzing. Like a sugar or caffeine high.” Reaching out he dragged his hand through the tv, leaving a static like pattern behind it. “Weird.” 

“Yeah, that’s one word for this.” Virgil mumbled.

“What is up everybody!” Thomas said cheerfully. “Uh. This is me, I guess.” 

Everyone just stared at the suddenly visible apparition. 

“Wow. Is this room dead, or is it just me?” 

“... I am fairly sure you were present for our discussion of our states of life. In short, almost.” 

“And that’s why Logan is the life of the party!” Patton laughed, jumping up into his lap, paws sprawled every which way. Emile picked one up and began squishing his paw pads. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever been called that before.” Logan said uncertainly. 

“Well, I think that we can call this experiment a success!” Emile said cheerfully. “Have you tried this, Virgil? I think you’d like it.” 

Patton helpfully stuck a paw into Virgil’s lap, and he took it, pressing his thumbs into the pad, and finally breathing again. 

“It’s like a warm fidget cube.” he mumbled. Patton licked the side of his face. Virgil faceplanted into his fur. “No offence, Thomas, but I’m overwhelmed.” 

“Hey, fair. Me too. It uh, it’s a pleasure, Dr. Picani, but I’m gonna let myself drift for a while. I’ll see you guys around” 

“And apparently we’ll see you!” Roman said cheerfully. Thomas gave a smile that was full of mixed emotions. 

“Yeah.” He blinked out. 

“...he’s ADORABLE.” Roman exclaimed. 

**Author's Note:**

> wow I got distracted.  
> come encourage me and ask questions at thebestworstidea on tumblr


End file.
